Friday, January 30, 2009

Still smarting from across-the-board defeats, the GOP is trying to rebuild itself in radical ways. To start, they elected Michael Steele to become the first black chairman of the RNC (I wonder if he'll get his own "magic negro" song) over a guy who just cancelled his membership to a "whites only" country club. The vote was 91-77. They also launched this website to coordinate a plan of attack to reclaim the power that so quickly slipped away from them. In it they key in on several areas they need to improve upon immediately. The primary focus of this resurgence will be on building a grassroots movement through the internet to rally support for their party:

The challenge is daunting, but if we adopt a strongly anti-Washington message and charge hard against Obama and the Democrats, we will energize our grassroots base.

They are also looking to recruit 5 million online activists to fight against "the Obama agenda." Obama had roughly 3 million people serving a similar role in his campaign and T. Boone Pickens has about 1.4 million people spreading the word on energy issues. Key to their success will be drumming up support from Technology fat cats who would be willing to lend a hand and adopting a new, less fearful view of being pioneers in this unfamiliar territory.

Also crucial to this plan is having at least 40% of their nominees be of the age of 40 or younger:

Undoing the damage to our party's brand among America's youth will take more than new slogans and hip spokespeople. It will mean making young voters the face of the Republican Party, and not just another target group with its own bulleted list of "outreach" talking points. To that end, the next Chairman should commit to a simple goal: working towards a Republican Party where at least 40% of our challenger and open seat candidates for Congress are under 40. Such a party will send a signal to all Americans that the GOP is once again the party of the future.

Say what you will about this strategy.. It reeks of, "If you can't beat 'em join 'em," especially with the election of a relatively young black leader who says it will be a "great honor to spar" with President Obama. It makes perfect sense because having Steele as the mouthpiece of the party negates the race card. While many Dems are still celebrating the new dawn of Obama's presidency, the GOP is getting their shit together. And they have proven to be resourceful, resilient and fucking sneaky.

Check out http://www.rebuildtheparty.com/ for regular updates on their nefarious activities. Their intentions are quite deliberate. They are down, but not out and are not in a big rush to "reach across the aisle" if they are not in charge. Shocker.